Lost
by DecrescentMelancholy
Summary: One day Paris lost one of their heroes, the fall of Ladybug leaving a great hole inside the city's heart that no one was able to fill. The problem with this was when not a mere few days later the alert that high school student, Marinette Dupain - Cheng, had gone missing and no one had any idea as to where she was.
1. Amber Alert

The sky was grieving today. Big, fat raindrops painting the ground in a dark, wet color that made it very easy for everyone to see their own blotchy and hopeless faces. There were no sounds anywhere, something quite odd given that they lived in Paris, city that never sleeps. No one was driving anywhere, no vendors out on the streets. The Parisians were walking in masses, everyone at the same pace, everyone heading to one specific point. You could see from miles the big group of people, an obvious black blur from afar. It was quiet, too quiet except for the raindrops falling faster now. No one cared to take an umbrella .

It had been two days, just two days since the event happened. Two days since everyone decided to not talk, two days without Hawkmoth, two days since Chat Noir vanished without a single word. They knew he was in hiding; they knew he couldn't face them, wouldn't even want to. They also knew that she would probably be pissed that he was acting this way, but he still didn't make an appearance. No one expected him to, even less on a day like this in this specific place. It all seemed so wrong, so weird.

They all made a circle, no seats in place for so many people, and no known family that could be in front. They stood side by side, waiting for someone to talk, someone close that knew enough. He didn't come.

Utter silence, just plain deafening and uncomfortable. Alya stood up, whole body shivering with cold and too many emotions. The grim faces looked up to pay their attention to the girl, waiting for the first words to be spoken.

"I didn't know Ladybug that much, only running my LadyBlog by what I could see when the fights happened." Her first words were spoken softly, somehow matching with the somber mood set in all of them.

"She saved me a few times, I'm sure she has saved all of you at some point or another." She smiled, a sad little twitch of her mouth. "But I don't feel like I'm the one that should be speaking up here."

Alya bit her lip, eyes downcast, corners filling with tears.

"Ladybug was a private person, trying to maintain order everywhere, including where her relationships were involved. And right now, at this moment, the only one that can really speak is Chat Noir." There were intakes of breath, people closing their fists, some gasping at her bravery of mentioning his name.

"I know what happened, we all do, but I also know that it wasn't his fault, and Ladybug wouldn't blame him. She would want him here, the only person close enough to talk about here, her only close friend. So, if you're hearing this, please come out. Paris already lost an amazing hero; we don't need to lose the other one too."

Her glasses were slipping down her nose from the water, eyes blinking to get the raindrops out. They all looked everywhere, faces turning to see if their cat hero would be brave enough to appear now. He didn't. Alya gripped the edges of the podium, teeth gritting from the cold and anger.

"We are all here! How dare you? How dare you not come to pay respect to her? How dare you insult her this way!?" She yelled into the microphone, tears mixing with the rain on her face.

"You fought together, laughed together, cried together. You were the last person to be by her side. Didn't you love her!?" She heard something fall to the ground but continued. "Then come here, now! This is isn't fair, not a single thing about this is, but we can't change it. Ladybug-" she choked, covering her mouth with a hand.

"Ladybug was great, the thing that held Paris together, and now she's gone. So, come out! You are the only thing left from her; you are the only person who can talk the truth. Please, Chat Noir, do it for her. She would want you to. Come here now, talk to us, to her."

Alya hunched on herself, eyes closed forcefully as rain and tears mixed together to fall down her face. Her chest burned, heart running a mile per minute, lips trembling with the emotions and the cold.

"You are the only one who can." She whispered into the microphone, her right hand coming up to cover her face as she sobbed publicly, body moving away from the center of attention a few seconds after. Nino held her down the stairs, her face hiding in the crook of his neck as she held on to him for dear life.

No one else moved, no one else went up to talk. Rows and rows of people stared at the podium, some hoping to see their fellow hero, some knowing that he wouldn't be there. All of them watched the red shadow coming out from the few rays of light now that the clouds made way for the sun. If they focused closed enough, they could see a tiny ladybug fly to the podium and land on the microphone for a few seconds before it flew away again.

* * *

Adrien had been there for the whole service, head bowed, and hands hidden inside his designer pants. He sheltered himself between the students of his school, just another kid grieving the loss of their superhero. No one knew what it meant to him.

He returned to his house after, ignoring the way Nino tried to get him included in a group get together for the day. The less thing he wanted was to be around people.

Nathalie greeted him when he entered the mansion, the Gorilla following him until he was inside his room. Once there, he sat down on his bed and stared at the windows for a long time, the rain stopping and the sun setting outside. He still didn't move.

"Kid." Plagg hovered in front of his face, small paws moving to get his attention. "Kid, you need to eat."

"I'm not hungry." Plagg scoffed, crossing the paws in front of his chest.

"You haven't eaten in two whole days."

Adrien ignored him, instead undressing himself and walking to the bathroom. Plagg watched as his holder disappeared behind the door without another word, the shower head running seconds after. The kwami closed his eyes in pain, whole body shaken.

When Ladybug had fallen, her kwami fell with her and there was nothing they could do to recover it. She was usually the one fixing everything, bringing everything back to normal, but this time that option wasn't on the table and the world started to sink faster than they expected. Hawkmoth had ceased his attacks since them, not one single akumatized victim wreaking havoc no matter how much grief they were under. The ones that knew more about the topic had the theory that there wasn't any need for akumas anymore, what with one of the miraculous being destroyed. A small flicker of hope between the disaster they were leaving in.

Plagg had come out of the transformation five minutes after Chat Noir had released his Cataclysm, a praise on his lips for defeating the stronger Akuma they had ever faced yet. He noticed too late, though, that Chat had detransformed in presence of Ladybug, the purified butterfly flying away, tears streaming down her red spotted mask.

Adrien and he haven't talked much since the incident, the kid shutting himself out from everyone and everything. It was dangerous, this path he was taking, but he couldn't blame him.

Plagg was worried, really worried and having his holder out of sight for long periods of times could make him go into a frenzy. Adrien was acting so unlike himself; he didn't know what could happen if he left. That was the only reason as to why he hasn't gone to see Master Fu, the fear that Adrien would do something stupid wrenching his heart. He had already lost Tikki, he didn't want to lose anyone else.

* * *

The school opened a few days later, students walking inside with heavy steps. There was something missing from them, something missing in the air and everyone could feel it. Classrooms got filled faster than usual, no one wanting to be out of the patio when there was no reason to.

Miss Bustier entered quietly, bag and papers put down on her desk before she turned to look at the class. Every single student was present, all eyes bare of any happiness or joy, bare of any sign of life.

'That's right.' Miss Bustier thought as she cleared her throat to gather her student's attention. 'Every single student was present except-'

"Good morning, class." The teacher didn't have the energy to smile this time, not with the news she was going to give. "Before starting with our lesson, I have something important to share."

She saw how the kids turned to look at her slowly, Mylene, Alix and Adrien coming back from whatever zone they had been in. Miss Bustier felt her throat close, hands clamming up before she found her resolve once more.

"Marinette has been missing for a few days." The shock didn't come without its consequences, a few choked out 'What?'s vibrating around the otherwise silent classroom. She took a deep breath and continued.

"Her parents filed a missing person's report and wanted me to tell the class in case any one of you had any information that could help with the case. Please don't hesitate to come forward if you do know something."

In sync, seconds later, every single phone went off inside the classroom. The students jumped in their seats from their interruption, hands taking the devices out of their pockets and bags. The air was cold, frigid, gasps echoing like a single voice. The screens on their phones all presented the same message, the words imprinted in their brains. Markov came out from Max's bag, moving from side to side and blinking its digital eyes before they started glowing and a hologram was shown for all of them to see.

**AMBER ALERT: MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG**


	2. Marinette

The air was thick inside the bakery, the usual warm feeling and smell vanished from the premises. There were no sounds that could be heard in the establishment, echoes of a faraway bird driving off once the waves hit their walls.

Sabine stood near the over, grey eyes staring at the glass with apathetic eyes, pale face a ghost compared to how it usually looked. Her hands were wringing a towel, water dripping to the floor in soundless heaps when ringing broke the quiet atmosphere. Her head snapped to the side, body moving before her brain, hands throwing the towel on the counter so she could get ahold of the phone.

"Hello?" Her voice was rushed, desperate, chest heaving without exertion. "Who is this?"

"This is a recorded message-"

The call was finished before it could even start, Sabine slamming the phone down on the receiving seconds into hearing the robotic voice on the other side. Her eyes were glaring down at the device, hands gripping the edge of the table so tight her knuckles were turning white.

"Sabine?" A soft voice called from the corner, feet coming closer to the kitchen until the whole figure of Tom could be seen. "Did someone call?"

Sabine deflated, forehead hitting the surface of the table, arms crowding in front of her head.

"Recorded call, nothing important." She heard him make a small sound, disappointment clear in the silence that followed. She understood, even if hers ran livider than how he was acting nowadays.

It would be amusing if these were different circumstances, Tom usually the one with emotions on his tongue while Sabine threw down the white flag in search for peace. But not this time, not when the situation involved her missing daughter and no one helping enough.

Ever since Ladybug's fall all the news had been focused on that front, no ears available for the cries of desperate parents with a teenage child.

'She'll turn up.' They said, dismissing their worry and pleading. 'Teenagers are like that, don't worry.'

But not Marinette, she had never done something like this before. They were all about communication in their family, always in contact in case something happened, always aware of whoever's whereabouts when they went out. They didn't need specifics, didn't need a whole sheet of information, only a small 'I'm out, be back at five' would suffice but the last they'd heard of her was over a week ago and their minds couldn't help but fall down to the worst places. Marinette had never done this; she had never been a rebellious child.

It was infuriating when almost too late they decided to pay attention, filing a missing person's report and acting fast in all methods, sending the Amber Alert not long after. Sabine could only glare at the authorities that shook down from grief and ignored when a minor went missing. She could never trust them in the same way again.

"Perhaps we'll have more luck later." Tom said, his lips pulling upward in trying to make a smile. He failed. Sabine looked at him from below, noticing the dark bags under his eyes and the overgrown facial hair he hadn't shaved yet. Her heart stung at the sight of someone else she loved hurting, someone else as lost as her with everything that was happening.

Someone else that she couldn't help.

"Perhaps." She whispered, not as hopeful as she would have been some time ago, turning her head away from the mirror of pain that was her husband and closing her eyes.

* * *

"The Fall of Ladybug has been a dark era in our times, but it left a bright future without the Akuma attacks that had terrorized us for so long. Now with this new dawning-"

_Click_

"Ladybug passing still weighs down on the people of Paris, many sharing the same grief that-"

_Click_

"Here we can see some Parisians leaving tokens in memory of our fallen hero, some of them offering flowers and candles for the coming vigil-"

_Click_

"Chat Noir is still in the wind, no sight of him since that day. Some say that he-"

Alya turned off the television, groaning as she threw the remote to the side. This had been going on for a while now, everyone talking over and over again about the fall of Ladybug and no one focusing on the real problem at hand. She was beyond frustrated.

Her journalistic drive had taken her to see the Ladyblog after the Amber Alert had gone off, some morbid sense inside of her knowing about what she would encounter and yet she still read on. Every single comment was about Ladybug or how Chat Noir was still missing, everyone talking about good memories and bad ones, more than one person laughing about the attacks now that there was no threat to look out for. No one talked about the minor that was missing, no one mentioned anything about Marinette.

Alya was pretty sure that the alert had gone off to everyone within range, anyone that was able to help. She knew that they had heard about it, read about it or even seen it on the posters left outside of every building and café. They all knew, and yet no one cared. The girl wanted to scream, bang their heads and bring them back to earth. And while, yes, the passing of Ladybug had been a tragic thing, people needed to realize that there was someone alive and breathing out there that needed their help, someone that actually needed the attention given to everything but herself.

Her body shook, tears rolling down her cheeks as she stared at the black screen. Alya felt lost, helpless, scared. Marinette had gone missing and no one noticed, too much focus on the celebrity tragedy instead. She blamed herself for not noticing, preparing for the service and the speech. It was guilt that drove her, wiping her tears away with the new idea that came to her mind.

Ladybug wasn't here anymore, there was no reason to keep the Ladyblog going, none at all, but Alya decided that it wasn't to end like that. Opening up the page, her fingers started moving on top of her keyboard, a paragraph read over and sent before she could regret it. There were no Akumas to look out for anymore, but there was someone missing and what better place to spread the word than in the popular blog itself?

Ladybug may not be here anymore, but her memory was and so was her influence.

* * *

The music was distorted to his ears, strings more out of tune than ever before in his life. Luka looked down at his wearied fingers, red welts adorning the rough skin. He had been playing for too long with clouded thoughts, nothing but a need to do something, anything besides focusing on the present. His mind was screaming constantly and there was nothing he could do to shut it off.

"Luka." Juleka's soft voice woke him from the haze, blue eyes looking up at his sister. "You're going to hurt yourself."

Then she was up in his space, taking the guitar away from his abused hands and sitting him down on the floor. The waves from the river rocked the boat slowly, his body falling in place with the dance this made. Juleka leaned over his palms, caressing the outline of his skin before sighing, hair hiding her face.

"You need to be more careful." She said, voice as quiet as the streets were these days, quiet as the soft breeze that chilled them to the bone. He wasn't sure she would be able to speak louder, anyway, not with all that was happening.

"Why?" He asked, the ghost of something he maybe could have smiled at before. But not lately, there was zero lilt to his tone, zero enthusiasm. "I have no one to listen to me anymore."

He felt her grip on his hands tighten, nails biting into his sensitive skin. She was shaking, face still hidden behind her curtain of hair, and Luka longed to be the brother he used to be, the caring man who would hug her without hesitation. Instead, he stared at the broken person that was his sister and cried, tears of his own coming out of their own free will.

"I miss her." Juleka said, barely a whisper in their encompassed space. "I haven't talked about it, but-"

Luka heard the sobs then, her body shaking more, hands detaching from his to go cover her face. He had no words, no actions to take while his sister broke down in front of him, hiccups deafening in the silence. His injured fingers twitched, trying to move from where they laid, trying to reach out to her.

"Juleka, I-" but he had no words, nothing to express or to console with. He was a mess himself, barely the artist before Ladybug's fall, barely the musician before that alarm shook him to his core. His hand pushed forward through his uncertainty, landing on a shaky shoulder that flinched with his touch. "Come here."

And he pulled her towards him, holding onto his younger sister with all his might. She was pulled apart just like he was, trying to bear everything herself while the world tried to move forward, hiding her own feelings and faking on a smile.

He understood more than anyone else, the pain of having to breathe one more day without seeing someone you cared about so much. Ever since he heard of Marinette's disappearance, Luka lost part of his heart too, no motivation present for anything in his life and unfortunately the relationship he had built with his sister fell down that drain too. Now, here in presence of her sorrow, he regretted pushing her away. Juleka needed him, just like he needed her, two broken halves trying to be whole again. And when Marinette came back, they would be pulled back together, showing her the real smiles they were trying to fix up. But for now, they cried.

* * *

It was the roaring that made her dizzy, the walls reverberating with the echo of that powerful voice, almost like thunder inside the classroom. All the windows were shaking, the ground mirroring this behavior and making her heart race. Juleka held herself like no one ever has held her before, body hunched, and eyes closed trying to forget the situation she was in. Then, she felt a different kind of movement, slow and steady, a body trying to sneak past.

Opening her eyes, Juleka saw Marinette crawling closer to the classroom wall, moving as if trying to walk out. Her pulse skyrocketed, faster than even before, hand shooting forward to grab onto her classmate.

"What are you doing?" She hissed, voice wobbly and high. Marinette turned around at the hold, looking first to their joint hands before meeting her classmate's gaze.

"Out. I need to know what's happening."

And Juleka had never heard something worse. The girl pushed herself to move, crawling to be beside Marinette, hand not letting go of the others.

"You can't go out! That's crazy." Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears, the nerves shaking her bodies like the roaring shook the floor. Something fell against the classroom windows and she jumped, moving closer to Marinette.

Blue eyes stared at Juleka for the longest time, a soft smile appearing on kind lips. Marinette tilted her head, hand placed softly on a panicked one.

"It's going to be okay." She said, no show of lying in her expression. Juleka swallowed around the knot inside her throat, slowly letting go of her classmate and watching her leave.

At the time she didn't know, but that was the last time she would see Marinette.

* * *

He had known immediately after seeing the footage, Ladybug's fall leaving a hole inside his chest. He stood there, unable to help, unable to yell, unable to do anything at all as his disciple disintegrated before everyone's eyes, kwami disappearing with her.

Wang Fu had only felt such regret once before in his life, and the weight on top of his shoulder grew heavier with every breath he took. He felt useless, impotent, inept. For the second time in his life the inexperience he held welded to his soul aged more features on his skin.

Waiting was something he was accustomed to, all his life looking for the perfect opportunity to make use of his knowledge, of his skill. He was used to it, bore it like a second half of his job, and yet not one year felt longer than the time he spent waiting for Plagg to come by, perhaps bringing Chat Noir along. It didn't happen. Every day he would set out the tea set, a few slices of cheese carefully placed on a plate, he sat in front of the wait and waited. And waited and kept waiting. Every day the tea would grow cold and the cheese warm, the foul smell permeating around his apartment. Wayzz would land on his shoulder and stare, not a single word shared between them.

He had failed so many in such a short period of time, leading a young woman to her death without warning, scarring a whole city on the way and breaking down a young man. If only he had chosen differently, if only he had been honest from the start, if only he had trained them. If only…

But now it would serve no purpose having these thoughts, would help absolutely no one wallowing in the pain that was bringing him down. He needed, somehow, to move forward, to go on. The ladybug miraculous had been lost in the tragic accident, never to return to his hands or anyone else's. The black cat miraculous had lost his other half, his soulmate in almost every sense and that would require him to take it back. But he couldn't. He couldn't do that to Adrien, not after what he had already lost. It would be like adding salt to a recent wound.

Wang Fu sighed, setting his cup of tea down. This job had many responsibilities, and right now he was faced with the worst set.

* * *

The door opened without much fighting, no voice at the box, no person at the door to show him in. Nino felt shivers run down his spine as he stepped into the Agreste mansion, closing the wooden door behind. He had been here a few times before but almost with an excuse on his tongue, a means to try and sneak his best friend into fun times, lies that he needed to filter into the bubble that was Adrien's life. Now everything was dull and quiet, his steps resonating up the stairs.

Nino watched his best friend's bedroom door for a whole minute before knocking, holding his breath and waiting for a response. It didn't come. He frowned, knocking again on the door but it led to the same outcome, silence that he didn't quite expect.

"Adrien?" he called, turning the knob in his hand. The door opened easily, giving way to the darkness that enveloped inside the place.

Adrien almost never had to turn on the lights in his room, the windows letting in all the sunlight he needed to do anything, the night never bothering him as he worked. But now, now the room hugged the shadows in a way he had never seen before, windows veiled with gray curtains that kept out the light. Nino swallowed and stepped in.

"Hey, buddy? I came by to check on you. How are you holding up?"

He didn't know if he was talking to an empty space or if Adrien was actually here, there was no one downstairs that could give him this information. Still, he walked around, trying to look for any sign of life.

"I've been worried, you know. Ever since-" he bit his tongue, mentally searching for another route. "-it's okay, don't worry. I just want to talk, or not. Whatever you want."

The door to the bathroom opened, the eerie sound making him twitch his hands. Nino swallowed, walking forward into the now open space. If he was honest, he expected the bathroom to be completely empty, just a gale tricking his mind and giving him up. If he was being more honest, he would have preferred the bathroom to be empty, the whole house too if he could avoid witnessing this.

"Adrien!" Nino gasped, body throwing itself down in front of the tub, hands inserting themselves on the water to bring his best friend to the surface.

The blond was too cold, too wet and too still. Nino pulled Adrien away from the bathtub with some difficulty, the wet clothes trying to drag the weight back inside. He gritted his teeth, holding onto his best friend with all the strength he could muster, feeling himself getting soaked by the water spilling out.

"Adrien, buddy, please open your eyes." He talked, almost out of nervous habit, moving to put the body down on the floor. The blond didn't move, not a single sign of consciousness present. Nino felt cold and warm in that moment, both temperatures moving around him in shocking intervals.

Thinking a mile a minute, Nino let go of Adrien only for a moment before carefully putting his hands-on top of his best friend's chest, breathing stuttering out of his mouth. He didn't trust himself enough to do this, but Adrien wasn't moving, and he was scared. Closing his eyes, Nino placed his hands on the wet shirt, pressing down slowly and mentally encouraging himself to just move. Life appeared to just surprise him in different ways, though, because Adrien started coughing before he could even. Begin compressions, water making it out of the blonde's mouth.

Nino felt tears coming out of his eyes, hands moving to cover his mouth as Adrien kept coughing, moving to turn on his side and try to grip the floor. The blond didn't notice that he wasn't alone until he started breathing kind of normally again, opening his eyes to stare at his side.

"Nino?" The voice came out hoarse, heavy, almost unbelieving. Nino could laugh and cry at the same time, but he only nodded a few times, hands coming down from his face.

"You gave me a big scare there, bud." He tried to smile, but the expression fell in seconds. Somehow, he knew this had been no accident and smiling wouldn't come easy to him anytime soon. "We should go to the hospital, if only because I don't know how long you were under the water."

"Who cares?"

It was a whisper, not supposed to be heard, but still in immediate range so Nino was attentive to it. He felt a wound dig into his skin and open, almost like a gunshot but not quite. Has this been happening for a while? How had he not noticed? His chest felt empty and heavy at the same time.

Clearing his throat, Nino stood up from the wet floor and held Adrien by his armpits, bringing him up too.

"Come on, we need to go." He said, moving Adrien around like a ragdoll. There was no resistance from the other part, only mild complaining as he helped his best friend get out of the wet clothes and into dry ones.

His heart was making a race against his thoughts and it was thanks to this that he paid no mind to the black blur sneaking into Adrien's pocket.

* * *

The butterflies were agitated ever since he came back from that last fight, flying around the garden in huddled masses and knocking themselves against the walls. Gabriel didn't have any more commands to give them, only watching as they became more and more anxious as the days passed.

He had lost his chance at a wish, his chance at a normal life when the last of red disappeared from his vision. He had yelled in that last moment, held his arm out as if he could catch Ladybug from her death. As always, he just hid behind walls, forever cursed to experience life from other's eyes.

The akuma purified itself when he commanded it to return, de-transforming and making Nooroo stay quiet before he could talk. He saw no way out, no hope, no future he could lead. Everything for the past few years was done just so he could catch the miraculous and now that plan washed down the drain, not even a single piece salvaged from which he could move on.

Gripping his cane with frustration, Gabriel stared at the capsule in which his wife resided. He felt bitter anger and shame, turning around in humiliation. All had been done for her, so she could return and now…

Little to no chance of being able to burn this place to the ground, Gabriel stepped away and into his personal study, rolling his shoulders at the life he couldn't concentrate on anymore. He just had to pretend, as he had been doing for years now. He had to pretend and live, gritting his teeth in annoyance and smiling in front of the cameras.

He hated the life thrown at his feet, but the universe made its choice when Ladybug died and it didn't involve fortune for him in its plans.


End file.
